Rise Up Singing
by Seraephina
Summary: When Jinx and Kid Flash are united forever, they are ripped apart by the darkest shadow of Jinx's past. A belated birthday present to my soul sister, SylverEyes.
1. Chapter One

**This one is for Sylver.**

**She is my best critic, my biggest fan, and my wonderful friend. It is also way past her birthday, and so because I suck at punctuality, I hope a nice, four-or-maybe-even-five chapter fic will make up for it.**

**Here's to you, chickadee. Happy birthday!**

**Love love love, always and forever under this sun,**

**Phina**

**

* * *

**

They were married at sunrise.

It was a simple service, of course. Jinx decided at four o' clock in the morning, while they were slightly drunk on rice wine and wandering the park, to get hitched as quickly – and, Wally insisted, as _legally_ – as possible under the circumstances. Held on Jump Beach, the chairs, which they'd dragged from an outdoor restaurant to the beach an hour before the service, were so close to the sea that the low tide lapped at the slightly dirty plastic legs. The flowers were exotic and extravagant: when the florist heard what they were planning, she had pressed huge, graceful bouquets of arching tiger lilies and passion flowers onto them, and insisted that they wear amaranth blossoms for immortality and unfading love.

She refused payment. Wally slipped a twenty dollar bill underneath the cash register when she wasn't looking.

They combed the beach for sea glass to decorate the altar with, and invited anyone who felt like getting up at six o' clock in the morning. The only ones who made it were Robin, who was usually up early; the Flash, in support of his protégé; See-More, who cast a furtive look at the resident superheroes before settling into the farthest chair to the left; and, startlingly, Raven, who was silent throughout the entire event but seemed to enjoy the blundering attempts of the minister, who was slightly hungover and fumbled most of his lines.

The air carried a tang of cool salt as they went barefoot up the aisle, Jinx escorted by the Flash. As the sun was just kissing the horizon, they kissed each other, meeting passion for passion and love for love underneath a sky that was just fading from cloudy gray to a spectacular pink and orange, shot through with clearest gold.

Unknowingly, they had only twelve hours left.

* * *

"Well, darling," Wally said an hour later as they strolled hand-in-hand across the beach, "where shall we honeymoon?"

They'd spent a couple of minutes being congratulated by their sparse reception – the Flash insisted on racing up to a bakery and purchasing a ridiculously huge wedding cake for them to pass out – and then they politely ushered everyone away. Raven nodded as she levitated away, hand-in-hand with Robin; See-More looked disappointed every time his eye caught the flash of the slender silver ring that Wally had someone managed to find in the two hours of preparation before the wedding; and the Flash treated them both to smothering bear hugs before dashing off to deal with Mumbo Jumbo so Wally and Jinx wouldn't have to be bothered.

"Consider it a wedding present," he called over one shoulder – and just like that, they were alone.

Jinx pulled up the hem of her light summer dress as she waded into the ankle-deep tide. The dress itself was simple, with a featherlight skirt that swayed in the breeze. It was white, of course – she had a sneaking feeling that was a pretty standard color for the bride. She'd picked it up from the Laundromat they'd passed on the way to the beach. Wally had every intention of bringing it back as soon as he'd had the pleasure of undressing her, but for now it was hers.

"_Honeymoon." _Jinx made a small, disparaging sound.

"Oh, don't go all nonconformist on me," Wally teased. "You like a vacation as much as anyone else."

"True, true."

Jinx mulled over the honeymooning options as she skipped a smooth stone out across the waves. It hit the water with a tremendous slap, bounced once, and sank resentfully under the sea. "The Alps. We can go skiing and make fun of everyone wearing marshmallow jackets."

"Hmmm." Wally considered. He flicked a much flatter stone across the water. It skipped twelve times before it was swallowed by an incoming wave. "Jamaica. Sun, beaches, hula skirts and all the fruit-infused alcohol you could drink." He nudged her with his elbow.

"We have all that here, Twinkle Toes." Jinx chewed it over, then smiled. "The Mexican Riviera. Beaches and sand for you, cruise ships to sneak onto if we feel like it for me, and – " she leaned up and kissed him, a melding and parting of lips, " – just enough pickpockets to keep things interesting."

"You are a dangerous creature," he mumbled, then smirked. "Fine. I get to drive."

Jinx rolled her eyes. Wally had a fondness for carrying her wherever they went. "What, should I call shotgun?"

"Only the best for my blushing bride." He flashed her favorite lopsided smile as he scooped her into his arms, and she kissed him with crooked lips so that they matched. Eventually they both collapsed into the sand, laughing and panting, and then it was just twining fingers making architecture above their heads and sunlight skimming over crests of waves and the lazy languor of love turning the sunshine into honey.

The clock ticked.

They had eleven more hours.

* * *

They eventually did make it out of the country. Jinx marveled over the fact that Wally could run at superhuman speeds across rock-encrusted terrain, while carrying her in his arms, while snogging her senseless.

Several windswept seconds later, Wally skimmed to a stop outside of a gorgeous palm-tree lined resort, all red Spanish roofs and shimmering waters. She could see the sprawling beach from the very front of the hotel, brimming with bronzed Latinos and dotted with umbrellas all the shades of Jinx's favorite ice cream flavors.

Jinx turned to him with a wry smile, straightening the amaranth blossoms that were miraculously still pinned in her hair. "Only the best?"

"Only the best," he agreed.

They checked in – Wally paying with crumpled dollar bills that looked suspiciously as though they'd been filched from Beast Boy's emergency tofu fund – and spent the next hours wandering the beach, fingers threaded. At one point they wandered into one of the dim bars lining the beachfront. Jinx thoroughly impressed the bartender as she swigged several mango shots and then staggered straight into Wally's arms. He looked down at her disapprovingly.

"What?" She hit him lightly on the bicep and winced – he was rock-solid, much to her chagrin. "It's after twelve, for frick's sake. Live a little."

"It's eleven forty-three," he corrected, then shook his head sanctimoniously. "And here I was thinking I was making an honest woman out of you."

"Oh, please. You couldn't straighten me out if you stretched me on the rack."

He grinned down at her. "It's not for lack of trying." He was silent for a second, then said, "But you know, now that you _are _an honest woman, there are certain acts endorsed by God and by law that we are now legally allowed to do…"

Jinx rolled her eyes. "Men."

"What can I say? We have one-track minds."

"And a one-track ticket back home if you don't remove your gaze from my…unmentionables."

"_I'd _mention them."

She smacked him. He winced. She raised an eyebrow, waiting.

He sighed."Forgive me?"

"Maybe."

He pulled his face into a puppy-dog pout. A low blow, but an effective one. She eyed him for a moment, then relented. "Fine. Later."

He whooped. She smacked him again. The bar applauded as he swept her into a dramatic dip and kissed her crooked – her favorite kind. _So maybe_, she thought, _life as a married woman has its perks._

As Jinx opened her eyes to make a smarmy comment, her eyes caught the clock above the bamboo-lined bar. Eleven fifty-eight.

Neither of them could know that they had only seven hours left.

* * *

"So…" she mentioned a while later, as they sat on the sun-drenched pier, swirling their feet in the water.

"So?" Wally leaned back onto the rough wooden dock, tilting his face to the brilliant sun. The light caught the flash-fire of his hair.

"We're married. We're honeymooning." She nibbled on a hangnail. "What's next?"

"What's wrong with just chilling out for a couple of days?" He spread his arms out, wide as a bird. "We're on the coast of Mexico, at a beautiful resort, with nothing on our plates. Relax."

"Relaxing is a waste of time. We have our whole retirement to sit around and be lazy."

"Yeah, but we've only been lazy for –" he glanced at his watch, "six hours and some change."

"Isn't that long enough?" Jinx started to say, but her words were suddenly cut off as the gleaming turquoise sea lapping tranquilly against the pier's wooden legs abruptly roughened. A huge wave swept against the dock, smacking against them with the force of a baseball bat. Jinx leapt to her feet, sputtering against the brackish water in her mouth. Her eyes burned from the salt.

Something sleek and dark erupted from the waves. Wally managed a shout of surprise before Aqualad landed with a painful thump on the wooden planks at their feet.

He immediately curled up into himself, chest heaving as he gasped for air. Jinx and Wally rushed to roll him over onto his side.

Jinx's heart, so tranquil before, began a sprint inside her chest.

Aqualad spat water from between clenched teeth as he maneuvered himself into a kneeling position. His face was white, his eyes frantic. Jinx could see the cords of his neck straining as he sucked air into his lungs.

Fear pricked at the base of her neck, and her criminal instincts were screaming at her to run – runrunrun, as fast as she could. She'd never disobeyed them before, and had few plans to start now – but for Wally, and Wally only, she stayed.

Wally was speaking to Aqualad, calming him, a rollercoaster of words. Aqualad coughed once more, the last drops of water dribbling from his lungs, and shook his head to clear it.

"Came – all the way – from Sea of – Japan," he panted. "News. Bad news."

Dread wormed its way into her stomach. She glanced at Wally and saw her apprehension mirrored in his eyes. "What's wrong? What happened?"

Aqualad took a deep, slow breath, and as his chest stopped heaving from exertion, his clenched fists relaxed. His knuckles were scarred, Jinx noticed distantly. His temple, too – a long, jagged scar that ran from forehead to cheek. This was a man who swung his fists and charged the enemy and faced danger head-first.

And yet he was afraid.

He looked straight at her with pity and terror all mixed up in his eyes. "You've been traced."

And it was then that Jinx finally understood that their hours were numbered.


	2. Chapter Two

Sitting in a tense circle on the pier, squinting in the sunlight that suddenly made Jinx feel very visible, Aqualad told them what he knew.

He'd been dealing with an oil spill in the Sea of Japan when a call had come on his communicator. It was a dark silhouette in a darker room, a synthesized voice; nothing he could trace, even after sending the clip to Cyborg. It was a short message, telling him simply and coldly that _they_ – A terrorist group? A team of villains? – had gotten a lock on Jinx's position. They were coming for her. And if Jinx would not give herself up, then they would go through every single one of the Titans to find her.

And the communicator, Aqualad said, cracked open in his hands.

"Well, the creepiness of that whole incident aside," Wally said, his brow furrowing, "why did they contact you? If they could get a link to your communicator, why not ours?"

Jinx was shaking her head before he even stopped speaking. "These kinds of people – they like to feel powerful. They like to call the shots. They like to play games." Her mouth twisted. She knew how this trick worked. "They want us to feel betrayed – alienated from everyone else. It sucks, but it's smart."

"Don't even think about that," Aqualad said instantly. "Don't even think about _thinking _about that. I already got a message over to Robin with a pod of migrating dolphins. He's rallying every Titan on the planet to keep you guys safe." He put a hand on each of their shoulders. "We'll do anything it takes."

Wally clapped a hand on Aqualad's back. Their eyes – dark to light – met. "Thank you," he said simply.

Jinx felt a jittery energy bubbling in her veins, but she tamped it down. "We'll come with you," she told Aqualad. The feral streak inside of her was coming alive. "I want to be on the front lines when they come."

Aqualad shook his head, dark strands of his hair brushing his shoulders. His eyes looked ancient when they locked onto Jinx's, full of something more bottomless than pity.

"You can't," he said. "You have to run. Hide. I told you we'll do anything it takes. But this is bigger than all of us." And his eyes grew immeasurably sad when he said, "When this is over, we'll need you. You may be the last Titans left on this earth."

* * *

They left Mexico as if the fires of hell were at their heels. And maybe – the ugly thought crawled into Jinx's mind – just maybe, hell was catching up.

She shook her head hard to clear the thought, then bent down until her lips were close to Wally's ear.

"So what do we know?" Jinx yelled as he sprinted across the ocean waves, ferrying her on his back. A fine, salty mist rose from his churning feet and settled on her skin, in her hair. "Someone's after us? Who? Why? And why is it so impossible to kick their ass?"

"Hell if I know," Wally called. Quicker than lightning, he swerved onto dry land. They were running a zigzag across the planet, hoping to shake off the trace. From the looks of the dry, sundrenched land surrounding them, they were somewhere in Australia.

"What's probably more important to figure out," Wally called, "is what we did that was big enough to send an army after us."

Something icy stirred in Jinx's stomach. It wasn't fear; not exactly. It was…foreboding.

Whatever this group was, whatever they wanted, she _knew _that it had nothing to do with Wally. She'd changed for him, she had. As soon as she met him, she knew – and she'd gone down the straight and narrow without a glance back.

No, whatever this was about, it was from her past – the dark one, the one she hadn't talked to anyone about, the one that dealt in blood and shadows. And whatever it was, it was coming for her. Her alone.

They raced past a huge, glittering city – Sydney? Melbourne? – so fast her eyes ached. Wally didn't slow.

"Whatever it was, they're pissed," she bellowed above the rushing wind.

"Yeah, I figured."

"And powerful."

He crossed over into the ocean again, running parallel to the Great Barrier Reef. Jinx saw bewildered scuba divers washed backwards by the huge wake Wally's feet whipped up. He took a sharp curve around the edge of the reef, nearly ripping Jinx's shoulders from their sockets as she clutched at him. She was disinclined to be thrown from her ride at ten thousand miles per hour.

"Wally," she shouted, "where the hell are we going?"

He didn't answer her, racing determinedly across thousands of miles of ocean.

When they had careened through Asia and across a sprawling expanse of tundra that she guessed was Russia, then into a dark forest presumably somewhere in northern Europe, Wally finally skidded to a halt. Jinx fell from his back, her muscles shaking from the strain of gripping his shoulders so tightly.

"That sucked," she finally managed to say. "I'm flying Delta next time."

Wally smiled. He looked tired, she thought – worried as hell and stretched too thin – but his grin, as always, could put the Cheshire Cat's to shame. She was struck by the tremendous urge to kiss him senseless.

"So," she said. "We're camping out here for a while?"

He stretched. "Until we get contact with Robin, which may take a while. But we're safe here. They won't find us."

Jinx looked around while he paced. They were in a tiny clearing, surrounded on all sides by towering, ancient hardwood trees. It was dark – shadowy and cool, even though most of the northern hemisphere was baking in a summer heat wave. She heard water trickling through the hushed quiet.

The calm was broken, of course, by the storm.

Their communicators trilled. Jinx flipped hers open just in time to see the inside of the T-Ship and then a close-up of Robin's face, the communicator apparently balanced on the dashboard. Through the side windshield Jinx saw the sky slide by as Robin dive-bombed the T-Ship, corkscrewing it through the air. A missile screamed through the sky, just missing the small ship. She heard Starfire's warlike cries even over the sound of Cyborg returning fire.

"Jinx! Wally!" Robin yelled into the communicator. "Where are you?"

"Central Finland," Wally shouted into the tiny machine. The roar of missiles in the background was deafening. "What the hell's happening?"

"We got a trace on the group that's after you," Robin said over the gunfire in the background, "right before they got a trace on us." He twisted the ship's controls expertly. Through the window, Jinx saw Beast Boy fling himself out of the ship in pterodactyl form and snap one of the small jets in half. It spiraled dizzily to earth.

"Who are they?" Wally asked. His voice was deceptively calm, but his fingers gripped the communicator so tightly his knuckles turned white.

Robin shook his head, eyes narrowed in concentration as he maneuvered through the hostile sky. The screen jittered as a projectile collided with the T-Ship's starboard wing. "Right now it doesn't matter. What's more important," he raised his voice as alarms flashed along the walls of the cockpit, "is that they have a lock on your position. They're headed your way."

Wally's mouth fell open. "That's impossible! We're in the middle of nowhere!"

_They have a lock on your position, _Robin had said.

The T-Ship rose sharply, then took a dive.

Jinx's stomach followed. She felt as if she had been walking downstairs in the dark and missed a step. Something tickled the back of her mind – a memory. Her fingers tingled as she remembered the old, familiar feeling of snatching something that wasn't rightfully hers.

"Robin," she said urgently. "The group after us – I _need_ a straight answer. Who are they?"

Robin looked directly at her for a split-second. He was sweat-streaked and there was tension in his face, his posture. But more than that, he looked…afraid. And if anything in the entire situation could make Jinx nervous, seeing Robin's fear would be it.

"I…don't trust my judgment on this one."

Jinx felt herself gripping the communicator as tightly as Wally – tighter, even. "Robin. _Who – are – they?_"

The screen jolted again as Robin veered the T-Ship. Raven rocketed by. As a huge missile hurtled towards the ship, she flung up a huge black shield, and the missile ricocheted off. Raven turned midair to go, but she looked over her shoulder at Robin. Jinx watched as their eyes met and something more eloquent than a simple "thank you" flashed between them. Jinx squeezed Wally's hand hard.

Robin tracked Raven with his eyes even as he fired a quick series of bullets at a nearby helicopter. He took a deep breath, held it, and finally let it rush out between his teeth. "There's the logical theory," he said slowly, "and then the accurate one."

Wally gripped Jinx's hand harder. "Explain."

"The logical theory is that it's just another group of supervillians after Jinx because she switched sides. If that's it, then we don't have to be worried. We take out these jets, eliminate the source, and we're done." Robin coasted on a draft of warm air as the skies, miraculously, cleared for a moment. "But if it's the accurate theory..."

Jinx felt her heartbeat slow. She felt as if she was looking up at a great wave, waiting for it to smash down upon her. She _knew_ the name that would pass through his lips. She _knew_ it. She hated it, too. She would give anything she owned to change it. But the whole point of the past was that it was unchangeable, wasn't it?

As that pause stretched on and on and the wave in Jinx's mind hung poised in midair, a fresh surge of jets came into view miles away. Robin fixed his eyes on them: ugly, blunt-nosed beetles swarming over the skyline.

"If it's the accurate theory," he said, very calm in the face of their destruction, "this is just beginning."

Wally glanced at her, pulling her close against his side. She lifted her chin. No guts, no glory.

Robin let out a hard breath as he rammed the T-Ship into gear, driving forward - heading straight towards the gaping jaws of the enemy. "And the accurate theory is Slade."

The wave crashed down.

"Ah," she heard herself say numbly. "Well. That explains a few things."


End file.
